


somewhere to belong

by ofsinnersandsaints



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College AU, F/M, Neighbors to Friends to Lovers, basically this is just modern fluff to feed the soul, cause maybe smut?, fjord's the hot neighbor next door, jester beau and cad are in school, rating may change at some point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2020-06-26 04:10:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19760311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofsinnersandsaints/pseuds/ofsinnersandsaints
Summary: Jester is going to college, but she doesn't enjoy it much.What she does enjoy, is watching her, Beau, and Caduceus' next door neighbor, but she's never gotten a chance to meet him so-after reading one too many romance novels-she decides to arrange it for herself. After seeing his lights on late one night she gathers up her courage-and a measuring cup-to borrow some sugar from the handsome stranger.She's always wanted to fall in love, but she never would have guessed it would feel like this.





	1. Chapter 1

Fjord pushed the sandpaper along the curve of the boat, careful not to put too much pressure on the wood. A Bastille song played from his Bluetooth speaker, but he kept it low enough not to wake anyone in the neighborhood up.

He stepped away to grab the beer he’d left on the counter and the back of his neck tingled with the feeling of someone watching him and turned in time to see a small shadow duck around the door which led from the garage to the backyard.

“Someone there?”

There was a quiet shuffle and then a head popped into the open doorway. Blue hair, big eyes, sweats and a glass or something in her hands. “Oh, hi! Sorry! I didn’t want to scare you, and then you looked over, and I felt weird lurking around your yard-”

“Take a breath,” he told her with a smile, recognizing her from across the chain link fence separating his yard from hers. “You live next door, right?”

Her grin was bright as she all but skipped into the garage. “I do! I’ve seen you around.”

“I’ve seen you too. Did you need something?”

“Sugar,” she said absently, pushing what he could now see was a measuring cup into his hands as she walked towards the half finished project in the middle of his garage. “Did you build this?”

“I’m trying to,” he admitted, trying to see the boat from her eyes. It was a half finished hull and hardly the greatest thing ever built, but the shape wasn’t bad.

“It’s amazing,” she crooned, running her hands over the smoothed out wood. “You must be very smart to be able to build your own ship.”

“Boat,” he corrected more out of habit than anything else. “And not really, I just spent a lot of time around them. How much sugar did you need?”

“Can you just fill it up?” she asked, looking at him in the dim lightning. “I’m making cookies.”

Fjord glanced at the clock hanging from a stud on the other side of the garage. “At two in the morning?”

“I’m a college student.” she shrugged and turned back towards him, “What’s your excuse?”

“Nightmares.”

He blinked, not entirely certain why he’d just admitted that, and hoped to the gods the flush he could feel along his cheeks wasn’t bright enough for her to notice. “I’m going to get you some sugar.”

“Do you like sugar cookies,” she asked as she followed him into the house. He flicked on lights as he went into the kitchen.

“Yeah,” he answered and pulled out a bag of sugar and filled up her cup.

“I’ll bring you some when they’re done, to thank you for the 2am sugar.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s polite,” she argued. “And we probably owe an apology for something or other.”

He looked over his shoulder at her as the granules filled the measuring cup. “Why do you say that?”

She grinned and sat on his table, legs swinging beneath her. “Because we’re a bunch of college students on half an acre who occasionally have parties and probably always have our music too loud.”

Fjord leaned back against his counter and laughed. “Y’all aren’t too bad, I’ve had worse neighbors.”

Her eyes went wide, and he wondered if she was wearing makeup or if her lashes were just that long naturally. “That’s terrible.”

“You guys clean up after yourselves and the cops haven’t been called. Least not that I can remember. I can’t say the same for every group of delinquents who has rented that house in the past couple of years.”

She shook head, blue hair falling around her eyes until she tucked it back behind her ears. “We’d never risk that, Beau has an internship and if she ever got in trouble she’d lose it.”

He thought about the handful of people he’d seen come and go from the house but couldn’t decide which might be the person she was talking about. “And Beau is?”

“The angry one.”

Fjord laughed at the descriptor, but he knew who she was talking about. She went running at least once a day, and he’d seen her more than once out in the backyard working out. “And the big guy with the pink hair?”

“Caduceus, he’s very wise and going to school for grief counseling.”

“And you?”

“I dabble in majors,” she said, clearly evading the question and making no qualms about it.

Fjord shook his head, amused despite himself. “I mean, what’s your name?”

“Oh!” She jumped off the table and ran a hand down her sweats as if it was a dress, then held out of her hand. “My name is Jester Lavorre, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Fjord,” he introduced as he shook her hand. “Nice to meet you as well.”

They stood there for a moment, just holding hands in the white light surrounded by beat up furniture and the quiet of the night. He thought it should be awkward, and if he was honest he felt a bit out of place, but her eyes were so clear, and her face had a kind of serenity he wanted to borrow for himself.

“I really want to know how you got that scar,” she said while she still held his hand, her head nodding towards the white slash above his eye. There was a softness to her voice that didn’t necessarily equate to quiet. Like she knew she pushing on a bruise but didn’t want it to hurt. “But I just came for the sugar.”

“Uh, right.” He blew out a breath and took a step back, his fingers lingering against her palm for half a second before letting go.

Jester reached out and took the cup from his hands, her skin brushing against his in a way he thought might have been intentional. There was amusement at the corner her lips and for a brief, stupid moment, he wanted to taste it. “Thank you for the sugar, Fjord. I’ll bring the cookies by tomorrow. And if we ever get too rowdy, just let us know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

She headed towards the garage door, stopping and turning with her hand on the doorway. “Does the ship have a name?”

“Not yet, no.”

For the first time she looked a little nervous, but he couldn’t say why. “Well. Thanks again, good night Fjord.”

“Night, Jester.”

And for reason completely unrelated to the nightmares which had kept him up, Fjord found himself unable to settle down enough for sleep for another hour.

Jester was curled up in an armchair when Beau found her in the library the next afternoon.

“What are you doing?” Beau asked, though it sounded a little like a command.

Jester resisted the urge to slam the sketchbook shut and instead angled it so Beau could see it.

“Is that our neighbor?”

It pleased her that Beau could easily recognize the person in the drawing, it meant she’d done at least a reasonable job. Absently she played with the stubble at his cheek. “It is.”

“When did you get close enough to him to be able to get so much detail? Or are you drawing our neighbor as that guy from your books?”

“Oskar,” Jester filled in, because for some reason it felt important to clarify. “And I met him. Our neighbor I mean. Sadly I have not met Oskar in real life.”

Beau smirked as she settled into the chair next to Jester, her phone was already in her hand but she began typing something almost immediately. Jester didn’t bother to ask what she was doing because half the time Beau couldn’t say.

Jester was ninety percent certain Beau was a spy sent to infiltrate the college, but Jester was okay being used as a cover because Beau was a pretty good friend. Instead of asking what Beau was doing, Jester looked back down at her sketch. She really, really wanted to know where he’d gotten that scar.

Had it been at sea, fending off pirates? Maybe he’d come across a damsel in an alley, cornered by thugs and he’d defended her honor?

The sigh she let out was a little wistful but it couldn’t be helped.

“His name is Fjord Tusktooth and he’s owned the house for three years,” Beau announced victoriously and then sat up straighter. “When did you get a chance to meet him this morning? We were almost late to our first classes.”

“I asked him for sugar early this morning before dawn,” Jester answered, bracing herself for Beau’s scolding.

“Jesus, Jessie. You can’t go knocking on a stranger’s doors at fuck o’clock in the morning. That’s how people get murdered.”

“But look!” Jester spread her arms out in front of her. “Not murdered!”

“It only takes once,” Beau warned as Caduceus came up to them, sitting down on the floor and immediately pulling out his carafe of tea. From a few feet away Jester could smell it, grass and something that reminded her of daisies. For all she knew it, it was probably actually daisies.

“Who is getting murdered?”

“No one,” Jester answered at the same time Beau pointed to her. “I went to visit our neighbor and Beau is worried.”

“Beau always worries,” Caduceus commented without judgement. “But there’s no reason to worry about our neighbor, he’s nice.”

Jester perked up at the possibility for information. “You’ve met him?”

“No,” Caduceus answered, the single word meandering a bit before for finishing. “But he’s got a nice vibe to him.”

Beau scoffed. Loudly.

“You think so?” Jester asked.

“Yeah, I think so. A bit sad, maybe, but I seriously doubt he’s ever murdered anyone.”

“And you can tell that just by looking at him across the fence?” Beau challenged.

“Yes.”

He said it so confidently that even Beau seemed to hesitate at arguing and Beau never hesitated to argue.

Jester considered her options. She wanted to see Fjord again, but Beau was very protective and it would be easier all around if Beau just met him. A little company now meant the possibility for more alone time later. “I’m going to bring him some of the cookies I made later, if you guys want to meet him.”

“Do we get some of the cookies?” Beau asked.

“Look in your bag,” Jester suggested, shutting her book.

Beau’s eyes lit up and dug through her backpack to find a brown paper bag with a quickly sketched comic of Beau beating up a tree who was using a bat to fight her.

“A tree using a bat?” Beau asked, gleeful. “That’s so morbid, I love it.”

Jester grinned, happy to have made her friend smile. “Did you find yours Caduceus?”

“I did. Thank you, Jester.”

“Are we done bullshitting?” Beau asked around a mouthful of cookies. “Cause I’m ready to go home.”

“We can go,” Jester answered as Caduceus stood up, unfolding his long legs and walking behind them like a tall, friendly flower.

At home they all went to their respective rooms to drop off their stuff and then migrated to the backyard. Caduceus headed towards his little garden which he’d roped and fenced off to keep out wild animals; Beau stripped off her shirt to reveal the sports bra underneath and began doing jumping jacks, warming up before she started whatever work out she had planned for the day.

Jester brought out her blanket and set it safely between Beau and Caduceus with her school books. She didn’t particularly enjoy college, but she enjoyed the environment so she put up with homework to get the rest of it.

Parties, and people, and independence.

It was nearly everything she had ever dreamed of.

With that thought in mind, she glanced at the house next door but there wasn’t a truck parked in the driveway so she knew Fjord wasn’t home.

Jester was halfway through her chapters on anatomy- maybe she’d be a doctor, who knew? -when she heard the rumble of a truck down the road and trying to be sly about it she kept her head down and glanced next door out of the corner of her eye.

The chain link fence gave her a clear view so she saw the beat up old truck Fjord drove, saw him step out of it and when he looked over and saw her, he waved.

_He waved._

Stupid, Jester scolded herself. It wasn’t a declaration of love, there was no reason to get butterflies or for her heart to start skipping wildly and yet…

Jester smiled and waved back, hoping it looked friendly and not like she’d been sketching his face on and off all day.

“Want to head over now?” Caduceus asked, wrist deep in dirt. “I could bring him some carrots.”

“Oh,” Jester fumbled over her words. “No, that’s okay. He just got home, he probably doesn’t want company right away.”

“No, let’s go over now,” Beau encouraged. “I’m super buff and sweaty. I’ll be intimidating as fuck.”

Jester was hesitant but Beau was already walking towards the fence and Caduceus was wiping dirt from his palms. Resigned, Jester got up and went inside to get the bag of cookies and watched with fond exasperation as Beau hurdled over the fence and Caduceus just, walked over it.

Much shorter, it took Jester a second longer to get over but she was agile enough she didn’t get caught on anything and landed on her feet.

If Fjord saw, she hadn’t made a fool of herself.

Brushing a hand down the skirt of her sundress she followed her friends across the yard and watched as Beau banged on the back door. She hurried, so she was there when Fjord opened his door.

He looked briefly startled by the crowd, but shifted his expression quickly to a slow, easy smile. “Howdy, neighbors.”

Beau pushed her way past him and Caduceus held out two carrots Jester hadn’t seen in his hand. They were still covered in dirt.

“For you.”

“Ah,” Fjord looked at Jester who couldn’t do anything but shrug. “Thanks.”

“I’m Caduceus Clay, Jester’s friend. And the very rude person inside is Beauregard.”

“Fjord,” he said as he shook the taller man’s hand. “Would you like to come in?”

“I would love that, thank you.”

Jester watched Fjord’s face for any lingering irritation or mockery but he only looked faintly amused and that was okay; she was often amused by her friends as well.

When he turned his light green eyes on her they were laughing. “Hey, Jester.”

“Hi, Fjord.”

“Want to come in?”

“Thanks,” she smiled and walked past him, maybe a little closer than she needed to, but who could say? She held out the bag, standing a few inches away from him now. He wore jeans and a loose t-shit, bare feet.

He looked at home and comfortable; like he’d be happy to stretch out on the couch for the rest of the night and watch movies.

Naturally she thought she’d probably fit pretty well, stretched out on him, watching movies, but she blinked that thought away. “Here, the cookies I promised.”

“You didn’t have to, but I appreciate the gesture.”

She liked the way he talked. Beau tended to be clipped and blunt, and Caduceus could get lost in a sentence if given the chance, but Fjord strolled through his words like he wasn’t in any kind of hurry.

He looked down at bag, his face breaking into a grin.

“Did you draw this?” he showed the image on the bag, a tan man in a little boat riding a big wave.

“I did.”

“This is pretty good.”

“Thank you.”

They stood there in the kitchen, a funny kind of tension between them, and Jester thought he’d been about to say something when they heard from a few feet away, “Holy shit, you have a boat!”

Both she and Fjord looked over to see Beau’s head disappear through the doorway which Jester knew led into the garage.

“Beau, you really shouldn’t open doors in other people’s houses,” Jester scolded and saw, out of the corner of her eye, Caduceus slowly shut a drawer he’d likely been looking through it.

Beau was nosey, Caduceus was curious.

They were both dangerous if left alone for more than a few minutes. Not that she hadn’t drawn a dick on a wall when left without supervision, but she didn’t do it when people were in the room. She did have some common sense after all.

“It was unlocked,” Beau defended herself and then walked straight through the door.

Fjord watched as his neighbors just walked through his house as if they’d been over a thousand times, and at his elbow Jester sighed dramatically. “I’m sorry about them.”

“I don’t mind,” he assured her, touching her shoulder. “I’m just not used to it, I guess.”

“I’ll get them out of your way,” Jester promised but he stopped her, tightening the fingers which lay on her bare shoulders.

It gave him ideas.

“Honestly, Jester. I don’t mind. I should probably get to know my neighbors anyhow.”

She bit her lip and watched him as if trying to figure out his sincerity. Eventually she nodded and took the hand on her shoulder and held it in her own. “Let’s make sure they’re not trying to find your porn stash or anything.”

He felt the tell-tale heat of a blush on his cheeks but laughed anyway because she was so effortlessly funny. “Why would I keep my porn in the garage?”

“That’s a good question,” she threw a wicked grin over her shoulder. “Where _do_ you keep your porn?”

“Don’t keep it under your bed,” Beau recommended, apparently having overheard their conversation. “And be careful what you download from the internet. You don’t want a virus.”

“Thanks for the advice, Beau.”

“No problem.” She stood next to the unfinished boat, her clenched fists on her hips. “Why the fuck do you have a boat in your garage? Aren’t they supposed to be on the water?”

“He’s building it by himself,” Jester answered as if disappointed Beau had asked. “Isn’t that impressive?”

“Are you a sailor?”

“Used to be,” Fjord admitted slowly. He could feel Jester’s eyes on him but he distracted himself with the pink-haired man who was staring at the ground in the corner.

“It’s probably a bug,” Jester whispered. “Caduceus doesn’t like it when things get stuck in the house. He’ll just wait it out and when he can pick it up he’ll take it outside.”

“How did you find this group?”

“We found each other,” Jester answered sincerely. “Okay guys, you’re being too weird for Fjord. Let’s go back to the house.”

“That’s fair,” Caduceus said, his hand cupping something in his palm. “It was nice to meet you Mr. Fjord.”

“You don’t seem to suck,” Beau agreed and walked past him, patting him on the shoulder with enough force to knock Fjord a little off balance.

Jester held back as her friends went out the garage’s back door, rocking back and forth on her heels, grinning up at him. “They like you.”

Fjord ran a hand down the back of his head neck, “Ah. Thanks.”

“Well. Enjoy the cookies,” she grabbed his hand and produced a pen from somewhere and started scrawling on his arm. “And if you’re up in the middle of the night, and want company, I’m usually up. Have a great day, Fjord.”

He stared at her as she all but floated out into the sunlight and he looked down to see that in the few seconds she’d had her hands on him she’d managed to doodle a little shark and her number.

His skin still tingled where her fingertips had held onto him, and with a curse under his breath he reached for the sandpaper.

Jester was painting when she got the text.

Her phone buzzed on the table next to her and she looked over, heart beating a little wild in her chest because she could only imagine one person texting to her at one am.

YOU UP?

Jester grinned at the question, and laughed at the immediate follow up text.

UNKNOWN: I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT. SORRY. I WAS JUST UP AND YOU SAID TO TEXT IF I EVER WANTED COMPANY.

UNKNOWN: THIS IS FJORD BY THE WAY.

With a grin, Jester put down her paintbrush and picked up the phone, typing out a reply.

I’M UP! I’LL HEAD OVER IN A MINUTE, HAVE YOU EATEN RECENTLY?

FJORD: NO. BUT DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO FEED ME EVERY TIME YOU COME OVER.

CADUCEUS COOKED A LOT OF FOOD, I’LL BRING OVER THE LEFTOVERS.

Jester grabbed some of her books so she would have something to do while she was over there, and resisted the urge to check the mirror on her way out for all of five seconds.

“Fuck it,” she murmured to herself, checking her hair in the mirror. It wasn’t bad, and she’d managed not to get any paint on herself so that was a plus, but she did grab her pale pink lipstick and put on a light coat.

She was her mother’s daughter after all.

Grabbing the vegetable stew in the Tupperware container she walked across the yard to the fence and climbed over. She walked to the open door leading to the garage but waited a second before making herself known.

He was measuring something on his counter, making a notation on the wood before putting the tiny nub of a pencil behind his ear.

Jester could imagine the whole thing painted in oil, thick textures and warm colors, his stooped shoulders and worn in jeans. She’d call it Waiting, but she couldn’t say exactly what it was he was waiting for.

She figured the door had been left open for her so she could walk right in, but something about him made her wait for the invitation. “I grew up alone,” she said from the doorway.

He looked up at her voice, his brows lowering. “Huh?”

“My mom was actress, is an actress, a fairly well known one and she was always very busy so I grew up with a nanny and a big house to myself. I’m used to the quiet and while I love Beau and Cad, sometimes I really need the quiet and that’s why I stay up night.”

Fjord shifted a little, leaning his hip against the counter and crossing his arms. “Why’d you tell me that?” the question was curious, maybe a little confused.

“Because when I came over the last time for sugar, you told me why you were up at night. It seemed only fair you to know why I was up.”

“Well, if you’re lookin’ for quiet-“

Jester shook her head, hugging her books close to her. “It’s different with you.”

He shifted his weight on his feet. “Want something to drink?”

Taking that as her invitation, Jester walked in. “Sure. I don’t really drink alcohol, but if you’ve got water or Kool-Aid, I’ll take that.”

“Kool-aid?” His grin was quick and bright, and it almost made her miss a step.

“I like sugar,” she shrugged and settled on the stool at the counter near where he was standing. “And alcohol gives me a headache.”

“Just give me a minute, I’ll rustle something up. Should I get bowls?”

“Huh?” she looked down when he pointed and she saw the plastic containers she’d forgotten she was carrying. “Oh. Right. Just spoons, I think? No sense in dirtying more dishes than necessary.”

“College students,” he laughed and went inside and came back with two bottles of water and a couple of spoons.

“What were you doing when I came in?” she asked, feeling bad he didn’t have a place to sit. “Anything I can help with?”

“I’m just doing some measurements,” he said as he took a bite of the soup. “Damn. This is good.”

“Caduceus is a really good cook, and I’m really good at baking.”

“What’s Beau good at?”

“Hitting things.” She uncapped her water. “Were you in the Navy? Is that how you were a sailor?”

“No,” he leaned an elbow on the counter as he ate out of the container and it was kind of romantic in a way, eating out of the same bowl in the low light in the middle of the night. “Sailor is a bit of a misnomer. I was a fisherman.”

Jester had seen the reality shows on TV, and while she was certain everything was overdramatized it was pretty obvious the job wasn’t an easy one. “Oh man, that’s hard work.”

“Back breaking,” he agreed. “And dangerous as fuck.”

“I’ve never done anything dangerous,” and even she could hear a decade’s worth of regret in her own voice.

“You’ve still got time.”

Jester could think of a handful of dangerous things she could right then; she could wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him, she could strip down naked, or she could tell him she’d dreamt about him the night before.

She didn’t do any of those things because she wasn’t brave enough tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

“If you want to work on your boat you can, I brought some of my homework so you don’t have to entertain me.”

“You really don’t mind? I did ask you over.”

She thought about how to phrase it, tilting her head as she did. “Company doesn’t always mean conversation. Sometimes it’s just having someone in the same room with you, close enough to touch if you need it. I don’t mind being around, if you don’t mind my being around.”

He was still leaning against the counter, his weight resting on his elbow and close enough his arm was only an inch or so away from hers. When his eyes met hers there was the distinct feeling of being knocked off her feet, the air being sucked from her lungs, despite the fact she was still sitting on the stool.

“I really, really don’t mind it Jester.”

“Cool.”

His smile was soft, “Cool.”

Another second passed where they just looked at each other and Jester wondered what the chances were of him kissing her, but instead he tapped her wrist with a couple of his fingers in a friendly gesture before walking towards the boat.

“Do you mind music?”

She felt a little unsteady, and barely resisted the urge to put her hand to her heart or her stomach. “No, go for it.”

He turned up the volume a little and Jester spread out her books and worked through the math she was forced to do in order to graduate.

She doodled in the margins more than she actually worked on the problems; flowers and birds and dicks because she liked people’s reactions when they saw them. Sweet, innocent, naive Jester drew _dicks_? That would teach them to underestimate people.

“I know I said we don’t have to talk, but I think it’s important for you to know that I really, really hate math.”

Fjord laughed from somewhere on the other side of the boat and he sauntered over to her. He actually sauntered, like some old school cowboy walking into a saloon. She half expected him to tip his invisible cowboy hat and say ‘Howdy ma’am.’

And didn’t that stir up all kinds of fun fantasies.

Instead he just stood next to her, maybe a little closer than was strictly necessary, and looked over her shoulder at the math she was struggling to get through.

“Yeah, that could be Greek to me for all I understand it.”

“Me too,” she sighed, shutting the book with a resounding thud. “I think I’m just going to drop out.”

His eyes briefly widened. “Of math? Aren’t there tutors or something?”

“Yes, but I meant college in general.”

It was the first time she’d said it out loud, and she held her breath waiting for his reaction.

People at school would be horrified, she had an opportunity to go to college and she was turning it down?! Walking away from an opportunity some people would kill for?

She hadn’t even told Beau or Caduceus because despite how understanding they would be, she knew it would make things different if they kept going and she stopped.

“Well, if you’re looking for someone to talk you into staying I’m the wrong guy,” he said casually but she thought she could see how carefully he was choosing his words. “I barely graduated high school and my feet barely touched solid ground for ten years after that.”

“Do you regret not going?”

“No,” he answered, and Jester believed him. “I mean, there are things about college I think I would have liked but ultimately I think it would have made me miserable.”

Jester looked down at the math book. “College makes me miserable.”

“What would you do instead?”

Jester thought about it, looking to her right where the upside down boat still needed to be finished. “I could go sailing around the world.”

Fjord laughed, a big sound that filled the room. “It’ll be a few more months before it’s done, depending on how quick I get my act together.”

She sighed dramatically and poked at the book which mocked her from it’s place on the counter. “Well, I’ll guess I’ll stay in school until it’s done.”

“You can always drop out later,” he agreed. “What would your mama say about you leaving?”

“I don’t know,” Jester winced. “She was really excited about me going to school since she never got the chance.”

“But she loves you, right? I imagine she’d be happy as long as you were happy.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “What about your family? Were they okay with you running away to sea?”

“I don’t have a family,” he said in such a matter of fact tone that Jester nearly tripped over it. “I’m an orphan.”

Jester made a quick calculation; either he was so blunt about it because he was comfortable with it, or because it was a touchy subject and he was acting like it wasn’t. “So everything you are, you did yourself. That’s pretty impressive.”

He looked a little stunned and she thought she might have seen some kind of strong emotion in his eyes but the lighting wasn’t good enough for her to put a name to it. She wasn’t sure what to say next, and he seemed equally at a loss for words.

Her phone vibrated on the counter, giving them both an excuse to walk away from the conversation.

Fjord headed back to the boat, and Jester read the text sent from Beau.

BEAU: ARE YOU HITTING ON NEIGHBOR GUY

THINKING ABOUT IT. I’M ALSO DOING HOMEWORK.

BEAU: HAVING SEX DOESN’T COUNT TOWARDS ANATOMY

Jester looked at Fjord who was squatting near the bottom-or was it the top?- of the boat and the man was so sexy it made her toes curl.

OH MAN, I TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT.


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later Jester was sunbathing in the backyard, her music playing low next to her from her phone. There were half a dozen things she needed to be doing, but none of them had sounded as appealing as soaking up the sun and relaxing.

Her eyes were closed as the melody shifted in the air around her, but when she heard the sound of footsteps she opened her eyes and saw Fjord leaning on the fence, looking like some weird combination of cowboy and sailor. “Hey-yo, Fjord.”

He grinned, “Hey-yo yourself, Jester.”

She lifted up her sunglasses and hoped she looked like a sexy starlet, but she’d been outside for a half hour in the hot sun and was just as likely to look sweaty as fuck. “What are you up to?”

“I thought I’d run some errands, but it looks like you had the better idea of how to spend the day.”

“Sweet tea and a kiddie pool?” she smiled. “I’m pretty much living my best life.”

“So you don’t want to head into town with me and help me scare up stuff for my house?”

The flush of pleasure was absolutely out of contrast with the request, but it delighted her that he was asking her for company. “I’m a little sweaty,” she felt the need to warn him.

He studied her for a moment, and she was happy she picked her favorite swim suit-and sure, maybe she’d picked it on the off chance Fjord would see and, unable to control his lust, hop the fence to take her in his arms.

Whatever. Running errands with him would be a pretty good second to sex in the back yard.

“Is that supposed to be a deterrent?” he finally asked and Jester laughed, pleased to her toes he was flirting back.

“Not really,” she answered, still smiling. “Let me go put on some shorts and grab my shoes.”

“I’ll bring the truck around.”

Jester waited until he’d gone past the corner of the house before getting up and hurried inside. “Beau!”

Her friend popped out of her room, looking concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“How do I look?”

“Flushed?”

“Beau,” Jester scolded as she rushed into her room to grab a pair high waisted shorts and her flats. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“You look fine, why? Where are you going?”

“Fjord asked me to hang out with him,” Jester answered in a rush. “But I feel gross.”

Caduceus arrived, standing in her doorway. “Sweat is a great pheromone to attract interested mates.”

Jester stumbled. “Is that true?”

“It feels true, doesn’t it?” he asked and then walked away.

Jester huffed out a laugh and grabbed her ID and debit card, slid her phone into her pocket. “I’ll text you later.”

Beau followed Jester out of her room and towards the front of the house. “Are you going to jump this guy, or what?”

“He’s not like that.”

“Not like what?”

Jester stopped running around the house and looked at her two friends. “He’s sad, Beau. I think he lost a lot, and I think he’s putting himself back together, so I don’t want to push and risk pushing him away.”

Beau stared at her and Jester felt more seen than she’d like. “Oh, shit. You don’t want to jump this guy. You want to _date_ him.”

“Yes, Beau.” Jester tried not to laugh at how scandalized Beau sounded. Dicking down? That was something Beau could get behind, if not understand. But a romantic, long term relationship? That was where Beau drew the line. “And he’s waiting for me outside. Do we need anything while I’m out?”

“Walnuts,” Caduceus said the same time Beau requested vodka.

“Okay, okay, okay, text me if you think of anything else.”

Jester stepped out the front door and saw Fjord idling in his truck, she waved at him and tried not to skip down the walkway. “What are we getting?” she asked as she slid into the passenger seat.

“Paint,” he answered, putting the truck in drive. “I’ve got to get other shit too at the hardware store, but that’s the main thing.”

“You’re painting?”

“It needs to be done,” he answered, his arm resting on his leg, his wrist resting on the top of the steering wheel.

She didn’t think she’d had a thing for cowboys, but holy shit, the good-ole boy think was working on her.

Either that or the sun had done something to her brain.

“Everything okay?” Fjord asked and Jester realized she’d been staring.

“Yeah, you’re just really hot.”

Fjord laughed but she could see a bit of a blush on his cheeks. “I’m sorry?”

“It’s just distracting,” she assured him with a wave of her hand. “I’ll get used to it eventually, but if you could tone it down a bit, that’d be nice.”

He looked genuinely confused. “Tone what down?”

Jester gestured towards him.

“That doesn’t answer my question, Jessie.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you,” she shrugged. She was naive when it came to boys and relationships, a life time of being shielded from the public eye and an overprotective mother kept her from learning how these things went. But she had seen her mom work a room more than once and his bashfulness gave her more confidence. “But if it makes you feel better, I don’t think you’re at risk of being jumped in this moment.”

“Thanks,” he said and it sounded more like a question than anything else. “Since I’m driving and all, it wouldn’t be very safe.”

Jester grinned; more than the sexy manliness, she was just as likely to be undone by his sense of humor. “Good point, I’d at least wait until we were in a parking lot somewhere, but then I’d risk getting arrested for indecency.”

“Cops do make it difficult to have sex in public places,” he agreed sagely, pulling into the parking lot of a big box hardware store. “I know this is probably going to be very boring for you, but I do appreciate you tagging along.”

“Why would it be boring?” she asked as she hopped out of the trunk. “I’ve never had a reason to go here before.”

They walked side by side and Jester kind of wished they were at the handholding phase of whatever they might be dancing around. “Yeah, I guess when your mom is the Ruby of the Sea you have people who do this kind of thing for you.”

It didn’t sound like a condemnation, more like he was feeling her out, so she didn’t argue because he was right. “You looked me up.”

“You said your mom was an actress,” he reminded her as they stepped into the air conditioned store. “I got curious. Ruby of the Sea is one of the best movies of all time.”

Jester couldn’t argue. “She’s working on her biography right now.”

“I bet that’s going to be a wild story.”

“Oh, probably.” She followed him to the paint section. “What are you painting?”

“Bedroom and living room.”

“Do you know what you want?”

“Is it cliché if the fisherman says blue?”

Jester twirled a piece of her hair, “I wouldn’t be in a place to judge.”

He laughed. “This is one of the reasons I asked you to come along. I haven’t got an idea what looks good with what.”

“You thought I’d know?”

“You’re an artist, aren’t you?”

Jester startled at the question, staring at him for a solid three second. “How did you know that?”

He picked up her arm, his fingers loose enough she could pull away if she wanted, and showed her where green and yellow were splattered near her wrist. “You’ve always got paint on you. Either you were an artist or someone keeps attacking you with a paint brush.”

“I paint,” she admitted. “It calms me down and it’s a good break from all the school stuff.”

“Can I see what you’ve done?”

“Sure,” she wasn’t particularly self conscious about her art. It was the one thing she was certain about in her life. “Come over anytime and I’ll show you. But first things first.”

“Right.”

They spent fifteen minutes talking about color and accent walls, shades of blue and Fjord insisting off-white wasn’t actually a thing.

“Trust me, Fjord.”

He put his hands up in surrender. “I give in.”

“Smart,” she grinned and took the paint samples to the guy behind the counter and while he mixed the paint they wandered the aisles while Fjord picked up some hardware and face plates. “Are you remodeling your house?”

“I’m updating it. I really liked it when I bought it, but I swear it hasn’t had a face lift in a decade.”

“How can you afford a house?” Jester asked, then caught herself. “Sorry, that was rude.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I was in an accident on my last gig,” he explained but there was a flash of something dark and sad on his face that caught Jester’s attention. “It was pretty bad and I got a settlement out of it. Not a lot, but enough to get a place of my own and the money to start building the boat.”

Jester stopped in the middle of the lamp aisle, and she thought it was kind of magical, like a hundred electrical fireflies hovering around them. She hoped the light would help banish away some of the ghosts she saw in his eyes. “What kind of accident?”

He wasn’t meeting her eyes, instead looking somewhere past her shoulder. “The fishing boat I was on went down. I drowned.”

He said it so matter-of-factly Jester almost didn’t understand what he’d said. Instinctively she reached out to touch him, “You drowned?”

“Didn’t stick,” he told her, trying for a smile she didn’t fully believe. “Obviously.”

“No wonder you have nightmares.”

“It’s fine-“

“It’s not fine,” Jester argued fiercely, squeezing his arm once. “It’s a lot of things, Fjord, but it’s not fine. Are you okay?”

He seemed genuinely surprised at her concern. “Most of the time, yeah.”

“Right now?”

Fjord seemed to think about it for a couple of seconds before nodding. “Yeah, right now I’m good.”

“I can’t believe you’re building a boat after almost drowning,” Jester shook her head. “I’d be terrified to go back out after almost dying in the water.”

“It’s home,” Fjord shrugged. “No matter how scary it is, it’s always going to call me and I’m not smart enough to say no.”

“Will you take me out? When you’re boat’s finished, I mean.”

The light switched back on his eyes, bright and warm and rivaled the bulbs they were surrounded by. “You want to go sailing with me?”

She felt a bit like a moth, drawn to that light in his eyes. “I want to see what you see.”

He looked down at her, his shoulders relaxing as his smile reached his eyes. “I can’t promise I’ll be done anytime soon and you’ll probably move on after you graduate.”

Jester realized he was lowering his own expectations, something she knew all too much about. She stepped forward and moved her hand to wrap around his. “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, Fjord. And even if I did move, I don’t think I could stay away for long.”

He didn’t look like he believed her and her heart broke a little for the man who didn’t seem to think he was wanted, or worth staying for. “You don’t have to-“

“I know,” she interrupted. “I want to.”

But the mood was too serious, and he looked so uncertain, so she turned and linked her arm with his. “Now, let’s get paint rollers, tape, and plastic so the floors don’t get ruined.”

“It’s kind of you to think my floors are worth preserving,” he smiled and let her lead the way.

Fjord pulled his truck in front of the house, grabbed the paint cans from the back while Jester carried the bags inside.

Weird, he could have sworn he locked the door when he left, but he must have been in such a hurry to spend time with Jester he’d forgotten. Carry the paint inside he kicked the door shut with his heel and nearly dropped the cans when he saw Jester wasn’t alone in his living room.

Beau and Caduceus were standing with her.

“Surprise!” Jester announced, throwing her arms out. “I texted them and they offered to help out. Food is on the way, Beau brought alcohol, and Caduceus is really good at painting edges.”

He was a little stunned and thrown at the fact they’d dropped everything to help him.

“You guys don’t have-“

“We’re not allowed to paint our place,” Beau interrupted. “So this is going to be fun for us.”

“Besides, painting a room with pizza and beer is an important adult milestone,” Caduceus added, his smile the friendliest thing Fjord had ever seen.

“We can go if you want,” Jester assured him and he could see the smile she was giving him was forced. “We just thought it would be fun to hang out.”

He couldn’t disappoint her.

“Well, I mean if you’ve already ordered the food and lugged alcohol over here, who I am to say no?” and Jester’s mouth turned into a blinding grin, clapping her hands together.

“Let’s take stuff off the walls, then move the furniture to the middle of the room. How long until the food gets here Cad?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

While his new friends started getting the living room ready for painting Fjord ducked into his room and changed his shirt to something he didn’t mind getting paint on and then grabbed another one.

Jester was moving his couch, the muscles in her arm flexing in a way which he did not know was a thing for him, but was quickly turning into one. “Uh, here,” he held out the shirt to her and she looked at it like she’d never seen one before. “So you don’t get paint on your shirt.”

“Oh!” She reached down and pulled off her shirt and Fjord, flustered and not knowing what else to do, immediately turned around. He heard her giggle behind him. “I’m just wearing the bikini you saw me in earlier, Fjord.”

“It’s the principle of the matter,” he told her, fully aware he was blushing down to his neck.

“That’s very gentlemanly of you,” Jester demurred. “I’m decent. You can look again.”

He turned around and saw the old shirt, one he’d had for years, hanging off her shoulders and past her knees so he couldn’t even see the shorts underneath. The sound he made was born of frustration.

“What?”

“Somehow this is worse,” he answered, gesturing to her.

The doorbell rang and Fjord went to answer it but Jester stopped him with a hand on his chest. “It’s probably the food, I’ve got it.”

“Are you sure?”

Jester waved her hand and walked away, and suddenly Beau was standing in her place. “Jesus, Beau. Do you make any noise?”

“Not unless I want to,” she answered. “She’s fucking loaded, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Huh?”

“You’re trying to figure out how to pay for the food, or give her money for it.”

“I am?”

“It’s all over your face,” she told him and he worried about how easily she seemed to read him. “And it’s not the only thing on your face.”

He was amused by the direct call out. “You calling me out, Beauregard?”

“Nope, just offering my help if you need it.”

“You are?”

Beau tilted her head. “Jester likes people, she’s _like_ likes people, but she doesn’t often invest in them. She’s invested in you, and I’m trying to be the kind of person who supports her friends.”

“We’ve got pizza!” Jester announced, coming back into the room with three boxes of pizza and four smaller boxes on top. “I hope everyone is hungry.”

“Jesus, how much food did you order?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted as Fjord took some of the boxes. “I made the mistake of letting Beau order.”

“One vegie for Cad, one with everything for me, and one that’s half and half of some other stuff because I wasn’t sure what Fjord liked.”

“And the other boxes?”

Beau answered as she took some of the stuff. “Bread, wings, brownies, and I don’t remember what the fourth one was.”

“We should probably get some stuff done before we eat,” Caduceus suggested. “We’ll feel more sluggish after all this.”

“I hate a good point,” Beau grumbled but took the boxes to the kitchen table. “I’ll tape up the edges.”

“I’ll cover the floors,” Jester volunteered.

“Guess I’ll start pouring paint,” Fjord offered and there was a cool kind of comradery between the four of them as they set up the room. It reminded him of the ship, how the quips were easy and the teasing quick, inside jokes, and casual conversation.

It felt weird to fit here, with these people, but nothing about it was awkward as they shot the shit.

“What’s the name of your boat?” Caduceus asked as he used a brush to carefully paint the windowsill the off-white Jester had picked.

“Doesn’t have one yet.”

“I like a good pun myself,” he said with a slow smile. “Like Bullship.”

“Piece of Ship,” Beau suggested.

“The Myst-take,” Jester added with a grin. She’d tied the shirt in a knot above the top of her shorts, a small sliver of her hip showing beneath the cotton. Somehow that little piece of skin was more enticing than when she’d been in the bikini earlier.

Well, he thought to himself, maybe just as enticing. She’d been fucking hot in the bikini.

“I’ll take those suggestions under consideration,” he said dryly, clearly not meaning it. “But I think it’s time to eat.”

“Here, here.” Beau dropped her paint roller onto the plastic and headed for the kitchen. “Can we take this outside so we’re not breathing in this shit more than we have to?”

“Good idea,” Jester agreed, picking up the beer and one of the boxes and headed outside.

Jester was worried she’d pushed her way in where she wasn’t wanted, but Fjord seemed to be enjoying the evening and that made her enormously happy.

She wanted to be his friend-she wanted to straddle him on his couch and take off his shirt-but she also wanted to be his friend and it helped that Fjord and her friends got along.

“You should let Caduceus do your backyard,” Jester suggested. “He’s got a good eye for plants and stuff.”

“And I can make sure your house is secure from break-ins.”

“You’ve worked in security?” Fjord asked, obviously surprised.

“No, I’ve worked in break-ins,” she answered casually, piling up her plate. “Means I know how to keep people like me out.”

“Yeah, I’m definitely having a problem keeping you out of my house,” Fjord teased and Beau laughed, passing him a beer.

“We’re having a party on Saturday,” Jester announced, ignoring the surprised looks from both of her roommates; expressions she hoped Fjord hadn’t seen. “You should come over and hang out.”

“I think I’m a bit old for college parties.”

“Nah, it’s only weird if you’re not invited,” Beau assured him.

“And people go to college at all stages of life,” Caduceus added. “If you’re in college, or know college people, then you belong at a college party.”

“Here, here,” Jester cheered, tapping her bottle with Caduceus’ water glass. “It’ll be fun, and if you’re at the party you can’t complain if it’s too loud.”

He smiled at her. “I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll take it. Can you tell us some of your stories from the boat?”

“You want me to tell my fishing stories?” he sounded incredulous but there was a smile at the corner of his mouth. “I could probably think of a couple.”

He told them about his mentor, Vandran, who got him the job, and how green Fjord had been when he’d first stepped on the boat. But it was clear in his voice how much he’d loved it.

He talked about the storms he’d survived, and weird shit they’d pull out of the ocean.

“Did you ever find a dead body?” Beau asked.

“No, thank God,” Fjord answered. “I would have embarrassed myself a couple of times over the side of the boat if we had.”

After they finished eating Beau and Caduceus started picking up empty bottles and plates and Jester curled up into the chair. “I bet you must have seen some amazing sunrises out there.”

“I did,” Fjord picked up his chair and moved it closer to her, then pulled out his phone. “Let me find some of them and I’ll show you.”

He pulled up an album in his photo gallery and passed the phone to her. “This is shit I took on the ship.”

She looked through the images and was amazed and how wonderful they were; cold winters and rising waves, a view from the top the of the ship and a snapshot of the crew eating at dinner.

They weren’t just pictures, they were photographs with artistic perspective. “These are really good, Fjord.”

“Thanks.”

“No,” she reached out to put a hand on his arm. “I mean, really good. My mom has been photographed hundreds of times and I’ve met my share of photographers. This is professional kind of good.”

“Oh, well. Geeze, I was just screwing around with my camera and my phone. I had an actual camera,” he clarified. “A pretty nice one. It went down with the ship.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I got most everything uploaded earlier that day, there was six or seven pictures I’d taken that I hadn’t uploaded. It was just a nice camera and we’d been through a lot together.”

“You should sell these,” she encouraged. “Or at the very least let other people see them.”

When she looked up from the screen to him she took in a sharp breath, he face was only an inch or so from hers. It would be so easy to lean forward and kiss him but something stopped her, held her back.

Instead she held his phone out to him, “You’ve got an artist’s eye, Fjord. Trust me, I would know.”

“You promised to show me your paintings.”

“I’ve got school until three tomorrow, come over anytime after and I’ll show you.”

“Thanks, Jessie. Is it okay if I call you Jessie? I never asked.”

“It’s cool, Beau calls me that, too. But thanks for asking.”

He nodded, his looking over her face and she wondered what she saw. She knew she had some of her mother’s beauty, but there was a bit of someone else in her face and she wasn’t sure if Fjord thought she was beautiful. It shouldn’t matter, but it did a little.

“You’ve got paint on your cheek.”

“I’ve also got it on my leg,” she draped her leg over the chair’s armrest, nearly putting her feet in Fjord’s lap, and showing him the streak of blue on her thigh. “I also got some on your shirt.”

It was a kind of touristy shirt, a basic cotton tee with the Port Damali written across the top of it and a ship with open sails below it.

“I don’t care, you can keep it if you like, use it as your painting shirt.”

The corners of her mouth lifted, and she compromised with herself, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Thanks, Fjord.”

He looked a little stunned, but smiled. “Anytime, Jester.”

Fjord didn’t have a lot to do with his days.

On the nights when he had bad dreams he spent a decent amount of it sleeping, but otherwise he worked around the house, worked on the boat.

Tried to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.

He could always back to fishing, there was always room for another idiot who will trade a good back for a decent paycheck but he didn’t think he could do it again.

Walking into his garage he looked at his little project with something like dread.

All this money and time, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get out on the water again; wasn’t sure if he could go to the place where the shore disappeared and there was nothing but wet. Would it suddenly terrify him? That place that had once been home?

One of the reasons he hadn’t gone back out was because he was afraid the answer would be yes, and that the one thing he’d always depended on would be ripped away.

Sometimes not knowing was better.

And with that thought he looked up at his wall, the last thing separating his house from Jester’s.

Another question he’d left unasked because he wasn’t sure how it would be answered.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want her, he did, the problem was that he cared too much.

Just looking at her, he knew if given half the chance he’d fall in love with her; the kind of love that could, and would, rip him apart and leave him bleeding if it ever ended.

He’d love her to ruin, because she’d eventually leave.

Everyone left.

Rubbing at his chest he walked out of the garage, turning his back on Jester’s house, and going to the little room he’d set up as a catchall where he kept his laptop. Turning it on he pulled up his photos and started looking through them, trying to see what Jester had.

Pictures worth sharing.

He made himself take a step back, tried not to get too emotionally attached to the images and started picking out the ones he thought were the best and then sorted by a kind of theme.

Fjord didn’t think he’d actually do anything with them but it was something to pass the time.

More than an hour later his phone vibrated next to him, a text from Jester letting him know she was home and to come over anytime.

He slipped his feet into a pair of sandals and walked the long way around to her front door and knocked, the door was answered a few seconds later by Beau.

“Hey. Do you run?”

“Sure, if something’s chasing me,” he answered as he stepped inside. “Why?”

“I’m going to run a marathon and Caduceus thinks I should find a running partner so I’m not so solitary. I know better then to ask him or Jester.”

It would give him something to do. “Sure, but I don’t think I’ve run since high school.”

“I don’t care,” she shrugged. “I’ll text you times. Do mornings or evenings work better for you?”

“Mornings.”

“Cool, Jester’s in her room.”

“Thanks, where’s that?”

Beau pointed down the hall, “On the right.”

He nodded at her and went to find Jester’s room which was about what he thought it would be. A pink, red, and purple quilt lay across the twin bed. Clothes were strewn around the room, stuffed animals lined the windowsill.

But the majority of the room was taken up with painting.

An easel was set up near the window, the desk was covered with paint bottles, brushes, and a handful of sketch books.

“There you are.”

“Jesus,” Fjord jumped and turned around to see Jester standing behind him. “Do you any of make any noise?”

“I’m sure we do. How was your day?”

“Slow. How was yours?”

“Boring. I hate school,” she walked past him into the room and he had the brief urge to grab her and pull her to him but he resisted. Barely. “You want to see the paintings?”

“Yeah.”

She leaned into closet and pulled out a handful of canvases in a dozen different sizes. “These are the ones I still have in my room,” she explained. “I keep the others in the garage.”

“Prolific.”

“I have lots of inspiration.”

The paintings were immensely colorful. Some of them made him laugh and smile, the unicorns prancing through flowered meadows, and some of them caught him off guard with their beauty.

There was something ethereal about the way she looked at the world; the simple campus courtyard looked more like a colorful, busy marketplace where individual adventurers were rushing off to their personal quests.

The details left him amazed.

Another painting was of Beau, solid and steady in the waning light, painted in deep colors. Caduceus kneeling in the dirt in another, pastels covering everything.

“I want to paint you, too.”

“Huh?” He looked at her, “You want to paint me?”

“I have a sketch,” she pulled out a book, then another, looking for something specific and eventually handed him an open page.

He recognized himself instantly in the image. “This is from the other night.”

“It is, the image kind of stuck with me. But I don’t paint people without their permission, it feels creepy.”

Fjord stared at the basic pencil sketch, himself leaning over the counter in his garage, shoulders hunched. “By all means,” he finally answered. “I’d like to see how you see me.”

The air around them grew thick, he could almost feel it wrap around himself and Jester as if the universe was trying to push them together.

He suddenly couldn’t remember why he was resisting so hard.

“Oh!” she took a sudden step back and went to her closet pulling out a six foot canvas and laying it on top of the others. “This is Mama.”

The portrait was amazing, and lovingly done.

On a porch the Ruby of the Sea stood at the top of the steps looking towards the house with a soft and serene smile, her head resting against the post she leaned on. She wore a pair of shorts and a tank top, her feet bare and her red hair falling in waves around her shoulders.

It was not one of the most famous actresses in the world, it was a mother.

“That’s the last time she was on the porch,” Jester murmured next to him.

“What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t leave the house anymore,” she admitted on a quiet sigh. “No one knows that, not even Beau and Cad, but I think they suspect.”

He was supremely touched she trusted him something so personal. “Why?”

“Don’t know. I think something happened, but she won’t tell me.”

“What about your dad?”

She was quiet for a long time before moving the canvases and pulling out the only painting where she used black. It was a man in shadows, like a noir shot from an old back and white movie, his hands holding a bunch of envelopes, barely illuminated by a street light.

“I don’t know who he is.”

“What?”

She looked a little sad, but like she was trying to hide it. “See? You and I are not so different.”

“Does your ma know who he is?”

“She does, she just won’t tell me. He broke her heart and she thinks he’ll break mine.”

“You’re all alone out here in the world?”

“No,” she argued. Standing next to him, she pulled out Beau’s painting, and Caduceus’, and then adding his sketch to the collection. “I’ve got people. You’ve got people too, Fjord.”

“Thanks to you.” She looked up at him, a question in the furrow of her brows. “If you hadn’t come and asked for sugar, I’d be pretty damn alone right now.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that happening again. You’ve got me.”

“Yeah,” he stared at the paintings and then looked to her. “I’m beginning to figure that out.”

Then he kissed her.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple of days had passed since Fjord had kissed Jester, and he felt like a damn high schooler, going over it again and again in his head when he was supposed to be doing half a dozen other things.

It seemed unreal to him he’d only known her for a week.

He should ask her out on a proper date, but the information-or lack there of-on his computer screen, was a stark reminder of why he’d held back in the first place.

The drowning, the ship going down, the shipmates who had died in the storm… they were only part of the nightmares and guilt which weighed on him.

The rest of it was Sabian, and Sabian was a ghost.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t an actual ghost as he was somewhere out there in the world not being held accountable for his part in the sinking of the ship they’d both worked on. Instead, he was a metaphorical ghost who had somehow managed to stay below the radar over the course of the past three years.

He should just suck it up and hire a private investigator, but he hesitated to tell anyone about what he’d lived through. About what he suspected. Because what if he was wrong? What if the water in his lungs and lack of oxygen had made him hallucinate and Sabian hadn’t actually jumped off the ship seconds before it exploded?

The vibrating phone was a welcome distraction from the whirlpool of his thoughts, and the smile when he saw who was calling him was instantaneous.

“Hey, Jester.”

“Hey, Fjord.”

He leaned back in his chair and spun it so he was facing away from the computer. He didn’t want the idea of Jester mixed up in the memory of that day. “What can I do ya for?”

“I was wondering if you could take me to the airport?”

Fjord knew she wasn’t running away or leaving town, but his stomach dropped at the question, imagining for a moment his life without her.

Eight days, he reminded himself, he’d only known her for eight days.

“Yeah, of course. Is everything okay?”

“My mom needs me.”

She sounded like she was trying not to cry, “Of course I’ll drive you. When do you head out?”

“Now,” she answered with a sniffle. “I chartered a plane and it’s fueling up now.”

Chartered a plane, he thought with a mental shake of his head. They had very different lives. “I’ll put my shoes on and be over in a minute.”

“Thanks, Fjord.”

“Anytime,” he promised her and hung up. Fjord grabbed his keys and wallet, put his phone in his pocket and started up his truck. When he pulled into Jester’s driveway she was already outside, a bright pink carry-on sitting on the steps next to her.

She stood up and reached for the bag but Fjord was already getting out of the cab of the truck. “I got it, Jester.”

For a moment he thought she was going to argue but then she nodded. “Thanks.”

“Is everything okay?” he asked as he picked up the suitcase, putting it in the back of the cab of the truck. “Is your mama sick?”

Jester climbed onto the bench seat with a heavy sigh. “She’s okay, she just needs to see me.”

Fjord had eight million questions he wanted to ask but kept them to himself. “I assume chartered planes aren’t at the normal airport?”

“No, but I’ve got directions on my phone.” Her smile was genuine, if a little sad, “I’ll be your navigator.”

He debated with himself for all of a second before reaching across the beat up leather and linking his fingers with hers. She held on tight. “When I was under water, it was so dark I couldn’t see which way was up. But I remembered my mentor, Vandran, told me once that if I ever got disoriented under water to not swim. If you let yourself, you’ll float up in the right direction. There was a huge ass storm going on the surface though, the winds were taller than I’d ever see them and every time I got half a breath I’d be pushed under again.”

The memories were so close to the surface he felt his chest tighten, but he kept his eyes on the road as he drove them to the outskirts of town where the private airfield was. “There was water everywhere, so even when I was breathing air it felt like I was drowning. When I have nightmares, when I’m not completely convinced I’m not underwater I go outside because that night, there weren’t any stars. Just rain and waves. I stare at the stars until I can breathe again.”

At the stoplight he looked over at her to see her watching him with wide eyes. “Why did you tell me that?”

“Secret for a secret,” he told her gently. “If you want to share.”

Her shoulders lowered as if someone had just taken a weight off of them. “I didn’t want to go to college but Mama wanted me to get a degree, so the compromise was I’d go to college, but it would be out of state so I could get some independence. It’s been a couple of years now, but the distance hasn’t gotten any easier for her. Sometimes she gets these… moods, I guess? Like a panic attack. She has to see me or she works herself up. She hyperventilated once and the paramedics were called, she woke up in the hospital terrified.”

“Cause she doesn’t like to leave the house,” he remembered.

Jester nodded, holding their linked hands in her lap, her free hand tracing the tiny scars on his knuckles from years of working on a fishing boat. “The best thing to do is just go see her, and flying is quickest, only a couple of hours each way. After a day or two I can usually come back.”

He squeezed her hand once. “I’m sorry, Jester. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“The drive is more than enough,” she assured him. “Beau and Cad are both in class.”

He pulled down the paved road which would lead to the plane hangar. “If you need someone to pick you up when you come back, call me.”

“You’re a really good guy, Fjord.”

“Not really,” he corrected as he parked. “But you’re worth being a good guy for. I’ll get your suitcase.”

Fjord got out of the truck and got her luggage, walking around the hood of the car to where Jester stood in a t-shirt and a soft looking skirt. “Can I have a hug?”

He smiled at the question, setting the suitcase on the ground, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Her hands clung to the back of his shirt as she pressed her cheek into his chest, and he tightened his hold on her, knowing how important an anchor was in a storm.

“Call me when you land? So I know you got there safe?”

She nodded, her face still pressed against the cotton of his shirt. “I’m going to let go of you in a minute, I promise.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “I ain’t in any kind of rush, Jester. You hold on as long as you need.”

She pulled back then, a little glint in her eyes that hinted at the mischief she was capable of. “Be careful what you say, Fjord, I may take you up on it.”

His thumb brushed along the curve of her cheek. “I’m not worried. Promise you’ll call me.”

“I promise,” and she dropped her arms from around him and he kind of missed having her so close. “Thanks again, Fjord.”

“For you? Anytime.”

She kissed him on the cheek then picked up her suitcase and walked towards the plane, the stairs already in place to let her get on.

As he watched, the wind picked up and pulled at her skirts; he thought she looked like something out of movie.

Damn it, he should have kissed her goodbye.

Jested loved her mother more than anything. Marion Lavorre had given her daughter everything, had loved her unconditionally, but as Jester had gotten older what her mother wanted, and what Jester needed, were at odds.

Her mother wanted to keep her close, keep her safe, but Jester wanted to take risks and get lost and learn things the hard way.

The distance had been a blessing for Jester, but she knew it was extremely difficult for her mother, which was why she was willing to drop everything to come home when her mother needed her.

Sitting on the porch, she sketched out an ocean scene as the moon watched from its place in the sky. And as if she’d conjured him with charcoal and paper, her phone lit up with a text message.

It was a picture from Fjord.

The photo was from his side of the yard, looking into hers, and she could see Beau balanced on one leg as Caduceus was focused in his garden, the evening light casting a soft glow on the world and her friends.

He’d sent her a little piece of home.

She called him before she could talk herself out of it. “How did you know exactly what I needed?” she asked before he had the chance to say hello.

“I’m a mind reader,” he teased. “Though I have to admit, there was a little part of me that felt creepy taking a picture of them from my backyard.”

Jester laughed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t do that with anyone else in the neighborhood. They might call the cops on you.”

They were quiet for a moment before Fjord’s voice rumbled through the phone. “Are the skies clear where you’re at?”

“Not a cloud for miles.”

“Here too.”

Same moon, she realized. He was outside, same as her, and they were looking up at the same sky. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Just a little one,” he admitted after a moment. “But it was hot today and the garage is too stuffy to work in right now so I’ve got a beer and a lounge chair.”

“Kool-aid and a sketchbook for me,” she said. “I’m hoping to be back Thursday.”

“Two days,” he said and she liked that he sounded a little despondent at the news.

“Today’s practically over,” she corrected. “And I’ll come back in the afternoon, so it’s only a day.”

He made a small humming noise, “Is your mama doing better?”

“Yeah. She’s been telling me about the autobiography, she’s got some wild stories.”

“I imagine not all of them are stories a daughter wants to hear about her mother.”

Jester laughed, “A few.”

She heard the shifting of movement on his end of the line and then a heavy sigh. “Fuck, Jester. I miss you.”

She laughed again even as her heart grew and thumped heavily in her chest. “Don’t sound too excited about it.”

“I don’t know what to do with it,” he admitted. “Honest to god, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“You don’t have to do anything with it,” she assured him even though she had a couple of ideas. Only a few of them were salacious. “And I’m not in any kind of rush. Just tell me if you’re going to come to my party on Saturday.”

“Uh,” he started and she laughed at how obvious he was, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse.

“It’ll be fun,” she assured him. “But if you don’t want to come, I understand.”

“Jester?” a voice called from the behind her. Looking over her shoulder, Jester saw her mother standing a few feet inside the house in a pretty silk robe. “Who are you talking to?”

“A friend,” Jester evaded, turning her attention back to the man on the phone. “I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Jessie.”

“Bye, Fjord.”

Jester hung up the phone and shut her sketch book. “Mama, what are you doing up?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I was talking to my friend,” she evaded. “He’s up at all hours of the night.”

“What kind of friend?” her mom asked, a knowing lilt to her voice.

“A good one,” Jester answered. “One I’m hoping to date.”

“Oh.”

“What are you doing up?” she asked as she got up and walked into the house, shutting the door behind her and locking it.

“I was thirsty, then I heard voices and wanted to see what was going on. Is he a good man?”

Jester remembered what he’d said at the airport, about trying to be one. And only a good man, she thought, would worry about being a good man. “He is.”

“You should bring him home, next time you come back.”

They weren’t anywhere near that place, Jester thought, but she appreciated her mother wanted to meet the man she liked. “I’ll keep that in mind. In the meantime, I think we should both get some sleep.”

Fjord walked across the front yard to the small party gathering at his neighbor’s house; the guests were mostly people in their early 20s, carefree and laughing.

As a man who was nearing thirty and had the weight of an ocean on his shoulders, he felt wildly out of place.

But Jester had personally asked him to come over, so he could suck it up and spend an hour in her world. And because Beau had insisted on picking Jester up, he hadn’t seen her since he’d dropped her off at the airport a couple days ago.

There were at least three dozen people in the house and spilling into the backyard. The first person he recognized was Beau who moved through the crowd like a rock being thrown into a stream. Everyone moved out of her way.

“You came,” he liked that she didn’t sound surprised or anything. It was just a statement of fact. “Want a beer?”

Fjord looked around the house and could practically feel the hormones in the air. “You got anything stronger?”

Her grin was sharp, but friendly despite it. “You speak my language. Come on back, I’ve got a shit ton of options. You work on that boat some more?”

“I do a little bit every day,” he answered and recognized the song playing from the speakers in another room as something he often played in the garage. “Whose playlist is this?”

“Jester’s.” Beau walked up to the counter and pushed someone out of the way so she could reach for the cups and started pouring ingredients into it. “I’ve been told my taste in music sucks and Caduceus’ makes everyone want to take a nap. Here.”

Fjord looked down at the cup. “What is this?”

“A Punch in the Face,” she told him. “It’s my own creation and it’s pretty fucking good, if I do say so myself.”

He took a hesitant sip and it was good, but it also had enough liquor in it to stop an elephant. “Holy shit.”

“And that’s the punch in the face,” she smiled, obviously proud of herself. “Jester’s in the back. Try not to stare.”

“Huh?”

Beau just patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

Baffled, Fjord walked out of the back door and stood on the porch to look for Jester in the small crowd of people.

It took all of a second to find her and Fjord immediately understood Beau’s warning.

He’d seen her in sweats, sundresses, and a bikini, but there was something about the skin tight dress which whispered sex; dark blue and curve hugging, it matched the color of her hair and dipped low to show an enticing amount of cleavage.

She could have been standing in the middle of the yard naked, and it wouldn’t have been half as sexy.

For a second he couldn’t breathe, then she looked at him and her eyes lit up, he’d have sworn it, and he remembered this feeling from his days on the water. At some point you just realized you were along for the ride and he could either go with it or fight it.

And Jester, with the blue hair and ample curves, was a wave he was happy to ride out.

She made excuses to the man with dark red hair that she’d been talking to and walked over to him. “You made it!”

“I couldn’t come up with an excuse that didn’t sound like bullshit,” he confessed and reached out to hug her. Her arms tightened around his waist for a moment before she pulled back, but she didn’t step out his embrace completely as she looked up at him.

“It’s hard to say you can’t make it when you can see the party from your backyard.” She sniffed the cup Fjord held in his hand and winced. “Good thing you don’t have to drive home.”

“I think Beau’s trying to get me drunk.”

“Probably,” Jester agreed, taking his hand in one of hers. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to a few people.”

She took him back over to the group; the guy she’d been talking to was a little disheveled with a couple weeks’ worth of stubble on his jaw, his shirt was at least two sizes too big and even though he was at a party his backpack was on the ground at his feet. The woman next to him was short, green streaks in her dark hair. Age undetermined.

“Caleb, Nott, this is my neighbor Fjord. He’s a ship-builder. Caleb and Nott were in one of my classes last term.”

Fjord shook each of their hands, “Nice to meet you both.”

“You build ships?” Caleb asked, his voice a lilting accent Fjord didn’t immediately recognize.

“No,” he admitted and tried not to focus on the fact Jester was still holding his hand and that Caleb kept glancing down at them. “Jester’s just being kind, I’m building a boat in my garage. I’m formerly a fisherman.”

“Like on TV?” Nott asked, excitement making her voice raise a few pitches at the end of the question.

“Something like that.”

“Nott is going to be a private investigator.”

Fjord was surprised at the news and tried not to seem too interested in the information. “No shit? Like in the movies?”

“Something like that,” she grinned. “I’m pretty good at it.”

“Nott takes a lot of pictures of people doing it,” Jester added helpfully and Fjord nearly spit out his drink. She looked extremely proud of herself.

“Cheaters pay the bills,” Nott agreed sagely. “And people are into kinky shit.”

“Nott,” Caleb scolded. “Perhaps this is not the right place?”

“Where is the right place?” Nott challenged. “I do other stuff too, background checks, finding biological parents, that kind of thing. It’s never dull.”

“You find people?”

“I do.”

Fjord had a dozen questions he wanted to ask: how long did it usually take? How much did it cost? What if the person didn’t want to be found? But instead of asking them he smiled, “You’re probably not a good person to piss off.”

“I’m really not. No secrets can be hidden from me.” Nott’s smile was sharp and a little devious as she leaned forward. “So, what are your secrets?”

“I sold my soul to a sea god in order to survive a shipwreck,” Fjord deadpanned and Jester laughed, Nott reluctantly smiled and their friend Caleb chuckled.

“Yo! Fjord!” Beau yelled and Fjord turned to see her standing on the porch. “How are you at a beer pong?”

“Better on a boat, but I can hold my own.”

“You’re on my team,” she announced and turned around and walked back into the house.

Fjord watched her, amused, “Does she usually just boss people around?”

“Yes,” Jester answered with a smile. “It’s her way of saying she likes you.”

“Sure it is. I guess I’m playing beer pong.”

Considering the party had been thrown together last minute, it was pretty good party if Jester did say so herself. Between her and her roommates they knew a wide range of people from jocks to gardeners, but they all got along. The alcohol probably helped, she thought wryly as she listened to two people from her history class complain about their professor.

While they debated whether it would be better to TP the professor’s car or glue the doors shut Jester felt a touch on her elbow and before she looked, she knew it was Fjord. “Hey, I just wanted to thank you for inviting me.”

“Are you heading out?”

“Yeah.”

 _Stay_ , she thought immediately, and wondered at how intense the feeling was. Jester hopped off the table, hoping what she felt didn’t show on her face. “I’ll walk you home.”

“You don’t have to-“

She shook her head, not letting him finish the sentence. “I insist, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

He smiled at her and nodded. “Who am I to say no to a gentleman?”

“Let me just text Beau,” she picked up her phone and let Beau know where she was going and then dropped the cell in a kitchen drawer. “So she doesn’t bug me with questions.”

“If I was going to murder you, this would be the perfect time.”

“Right after I told her I was leaving the house with you?” she asked with a shake of her head, disappointed. “You’d make a terrible murderer, Fjord.”

“Well, I guess there are worst things to fail at.”

“Good point,” she grabbed his hand because he hadn’t seemed to mind it earlier when she’d done it. She liked the feel of it, his palm and fingers were rough with callouses, warm against her skin. Leading him out the front door, she stepped into the humid night, the stars dim above them.

“Thanks again, for coming tonight.”

“I enjoyed it.”

Jester smiled, bumping her hip against his. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

His mouth curved in a grin. “I like your roommates, and I liked Yasha.”

“Oh!” Jester hadn’t seen Yasha at the house, but the woman was known for sneaking in and out of places. Hopefully she’d still be there when Jester got back. “What did you think of her?”

“That woman could kick my ass.”

He sounded impressed which the proper response to meeting Yasha. “Beau is super into her.”

“I’m not looking to hit on her,” he told her, and there was a careful note to the words, a slight pressure on her hand from his which made Jester’s heart glow behind her ribs.

“Cool.”

They walked in silence and Jester wondered about the front door and what would happen when they got there. If this had been a real date, she’d kiss him at the end of it, but this wasn’t a real date.

He’d just come over to meet her friends, drink, and hang out with her.

But he’d admitting to missing her while she was gone.

Was every relationship this difficult? she wondered, or were they just bad at it? If her mother hadn’t been so protective, maybe she’d have more experience with this kind of thing and she wouldn’t be second guessing herself at every turn.

If, should-of, would-of… they weren’t going to do her a lot of good in the here and now.

“I started your painting this morning.”

“Oh yeah?” he looked pleased and a little bashful. “How long does it usually take for you to paint something?”

“Not as long as it takes to build a boat,” she teased as they walked across his yard. “Mostly it depends on the painting. Does it have a lot of detail? Lots of colors? I’d get a lot more done if I didn’t have to go to school.”

“Have you given any more thought to sticking it out?”

“Yeah, I’m going to stay.” He stopped in front of his porch but she went up the steps and turned so she was almost eye to eye with him. “If I dropped out, my mama would want me to come back home and I don’t want to leave.”

Didn’t want to leave her house, her independence, this porch where she could just barely smell the aftershave Fjord must have put on before coming over.

“Are you going to kiss me again, Fjord?”

He wasn’t even a little bit surprised by the question. Jester was the kind of person who took what she wanted, or asked for it as the case may be. And damn him if he hadn’t been considering it the whole walk over.

“I’m thinking about it,” he finally answered.

She tilted her head, blue hair touching her cheek the way he wanted to. “What’s stopping you?”

Fjord sighed and tucked his hands in his pockets. “I’m a hell of a mess, Jester. I don’t want to invite all my shit on you.”

Her smile was soft and warm and he thought he could live by it for the rest of his life and the thought terrified him because of how much he wanted it. “I invited myself over, Fjord.”

She took a step down so she was a little bit closer and he felt his stomach drop; it reminded him of when the ship would crest on a wave and dip down suddenly. It was an addicting kind of rush a person never quite got used to.

Jester put one hand on the side of his face and he wondered if maybe she was going to take the matter out of his hands and kiss him herself. Instead she only pressed her lips to his cheek, the touch lingering for a full second and a half before pulling back.

“But I don’t want to push, so just know I’m here whenever you want to find me.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her close and knew he was ten kinds of stupid for not kissing her. She felt good against him, she felt right and he felt right, but there was still that dark fear so deeply rooted inside him he didn’t know how to get rid of it.

“You know it’s not you, right, Jester? There’s not a damn thing wrong with you.”

She rested her hands on his shoulders, her fingers brushing the fabric smooth. “There’s plenty wrong with me,” she argued cheerfully. “Just like there’s plenty wrong with you. That shouldn’t stop you from trying to be happy with the things that are right. And this is right, Fjord. You know _that_ , don’t you?”

He loved how certain she was. “Yeah, I’m starting to figure it out.”

“Well, when you get the rest of the way there you know where I am. I should probably get home and make sure the house is still standing. Caleb has been known to start fires when he drinks too much and Beau thinks it’s too cool to try and stop it.”

He smiled, easily picturing it. “Good night, Jester.”

“Good night, Fjord.”

Fjord finally let her go, then watched her walk into the darkness and wondered how many different kinds of stupid one man can be.

Jester couldn’t sleep.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem. Normally, she’d paint or sketch until she could finally pass out, but she felt too restless in her own skin. If she was at her mother’s house she’d go swimming in the big pool out back, but they blowup kiddie pool in her backyard wouldn’t do her much good.

Making a quick decision she grabbed her phone and walked next door, figuring there was a better than good chance Fjord was up as well.

She wouldn’t say they’d been avoiding each other, but ever since Saturday Jester had made a point to give Fjord some space. He’d texted her over the course of the past few days, sending her pictures he’d taken and she had complained to him about finals coming up.

But they hadn’t spent any time alone.

Jester didn’t completely trust herself not to jump him, but at one am there weren’t a lot of options for company.

She knocked on the doorframe, smiling when she saw Fjord pop up from behind the boat. “Hey.”

“Hi, do you mind if I hang out?”

“Not at all. Everything okay?”

“I’m antsy,” she admitted with a shrug. “Couldn’t sleep. You’ve gotten a lot done.”

The boat had more shape to it now, it looked like some kind of seal had been added and the smell in the air was pungent. “You’re going to get high off these fumes, Fjord.”

He grinned. “There’s a good chance I already am. I’ve been at this for a bit.”

“Oh.” She looked around the garage, not sure what to look at it. “If you’re done, I can just-“

“Want to watch a movie?” he asked.

Her gaze swung to him and there was understanding in his eyes, in the softness of his expression. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Do you have a preference?”

“Have you seen Princess Bride?”

“Who hasn’t? I’ll make some popcorn, do you mind shutting the door so animals don’t get in?”

She shut the door and then promptly opened the window before following him inside the house. Jester sat on the table as he rummaged through the cabinets and eventually pulled out a box of popcorn, sticking it in the microwave.

“Thirsty?” he asked, reaching into the fridge.

“Sure, if you’ve got-“ she stopped when he pulled out a pitcher of a bright red drink. “You made Kool-Aid?”

She saw a little bit of a blush on his cheeks. “I didn’t know what flavor you liked.”

“I like all the flavors,” she assured him, touched he’d cared enough to not only buy Kool-Aid, but that he’d made it on the off chance she might come by. It was hardly the most romantic thing anyone had ever done, but her poor little heart tripped and fell half in the love with him anyway.

She took the cup he offered and watched as he got himself a soda from the fridge as the microwave beeped. “This is my best talent,” he told her seriously as he opened the door. “I never burn popcorn.”

Jester laughed as he shook the bag and she could hear how many kernels had popped, “That’s the best superpower.”

“It’s handy,” he took his soda and the popcorn and she followed him into the living room. He sat at the end of couch and Jester sat directly next to him, close enough their hips touched. “Will you grab the remote?”

She reached forward and traded the popcorn for the remote control, “My mama calls it a clicker.”

“No offense to your mama, but that’s dumb.”

Jester laughed and rested against him; unable to help the smile as he shifted next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He turned on the tv and then flipped through to a steaming site where he found Princess Bride available.

“How long has it been since you’ve watched this movie?” she asked as she reached into the popcorn bag.

“Couple of years,” he answered as he shifted on the couch to get more comfortable. “I remember rodents of extraordinary size. And of course Inigo Montoya.”

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes as the movie started, and Jester felt the nervousness begin to ease with the slow breathing of Fjord next to her, his arm around her. She felt safe.

“Thanks for letting me hang out, Fjord.”

“Yeah, sitting with a beautiful woman in the middle of the night watching a movie and eating popcorn is a huge hassle.”

She laughed and snuggled closer to him; he may not be ready for the dating or whatever, but he seemed to be okay with this, so for now she’d take it. After all, it couldn’t hurt to show them how good they’d be together, could it?

“Did something in particular happen?” he asked quietly.

“No,” she sighed, keeping her eyes on the tv. “I think my brain is just too full.”

“I get that. If you need anything else, you’ll let me know?”

She shifted so she could look at him, meeting his eyes in the flickering light from the television. “Right now, this is all I need.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, his lips quirking in a little smile. “I’m starting to think the same.”

Jester smiled, understanding what he was saying. She curled her legs underneath her, wrapping her own arms around his middle so she could rest against him. “This is my favorite movie all time.”

She felt the rumble of his laughter in his chest. “I’m not even a little bit surprised.”

“What’s your favorite movie?”

“Independence Day,” he answered without hesitating.

“I never would have guessed that.”

Jester felt him shrug. “How can you go wrong with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum?”

“Fair point. We can watch that movie next.”

“You’re not going to want to go home?” he asked, a little bit surprised.

“I’m good here. Unless you want to go to bed after this movie’s done.”

“Nah, I can sleep later.”

“I want you to know this doesn’t count as a date.”

Fjord laughed, big and loud and it made Jester smile. “Duly noted.”

She moved again so she could look at him. “When we go on a date, I expect you to pick me up-"

"I'm a good 'ole boy," he reminded her, soundly a little offended. "Of course I'd pick a lady up at her door."

She smiled and accept the point with a nod, but continued talking as if he hadn't interrupted her. "And take me out to a place with really good food, and I expect dessert afterwards.”

“Dessert?” he asked, his voice low and all kinds of suggestive.

It was Jester’s turn to blush, but she was certain he wouldn’t be able to see in the dark room. “Ice cream,” she clarified, forcing herself not to look away. “Cake. Pie. I’d settle for really good chocolate. Then sex.”

He grinned, clearly enjoying her. “It’s good to know you have your priorities in order.”

“Sweets always come before sex,” she told him earnestly. “Now, no more talking, I’m trying to watch a movie.”

Fjord snorted and took the popcorn bag from her. “I’ll start it over so you can enjoy it properly.”

“You really get me,” she grinned and settled in to spend the rest of the night with the guy she was pretty sure she was going to marry someday.

If only he would get around to kissing her again.


	4. Chapter 4

Jester fell asleep shortly after Princess Bride ended, and Fjord maneuvered himself out from under her and started cleaning up. He found his phone and texted Beau to let her know where her roommate was and then went to bed.

He was exhausted enough he went right to sleep but woke up a few hours later; fisherman’s hours were a habit he still hadn’t managed to break. Or maybe he just hadn’t tried.

Getting up, Fjord made coffee and stepped out onto his back deck to take a picture of the sunrise he could see coming up over the woods and hills. It was odd how quickly he’d gotten back into the habit of taking pictures. If he had to put words to it, which he couldn’t help but do out here in this quiet morning, he’d say he was slowly coming back to life.

“Jessie still asleep?”

Fjord looked over and saw Beau standing on her side of the fence. “Yeah.”

“She’s a late sleeper, so she’ll be out for a while.” Beau looked down at the fence then back at Fjord. “Can I come over?”

“Sure, you want some coffee?”

“I’d love some. I take it black.” Beau climbed over the fence and by the time he’d poured another cup of coffee for her she was on his porch. She took a cautious sip before looking at him, eyes wide. “Shit, this is good.”

“I’m not a snob about most things, but I’m picky about my coffee.”

Beau nodded and settled on the porch steps with her mug and Fjord sat down next to her since he figured that’s what he was supposed to do. For a minute or two they just sat there, watching the sun rise, and he wondered why she was hanging out with him when she likely had a run to get on with, or a workout to start.

But she seemed content to just sit there with him, until she was halfway through her coffee when she let out a heavy breath. “It’s hard, isn’t it?”

“What?”

She smirked down at the coffee, as if she couldn’t quite make herself look at him. “Learning how to care about people.”

Fjord stared at her for a long moment before swearing under his breath. “She got you too, huh?”

Beau laughed, but she kept the sound quiet. “Yeah. She was looking for roommates when we met, and I wasn’t sure about her at first, but when it comes to Jester it’s hard to look away.”

He resisted the urge to look back at the house, but he didn’t need to. When he’d gotten up he’d seen her stretched out on the couch, hair covering her face, talking quietly in her sleep. It was a mental picture he’d keep close for a while. “Yeah, I’m getting that.”

“You seem like a pretty decent guy so I’m not going to insult either of us by telling you not to hurt her, but you should know she was crazy isolated as a kid. Her mom loves her, there’s no doubt about it, but she was a little overprotective so Jester didn’t have the kind of upbringing either of us had.”

He didn’t quite the put the pieces together, and Beau was happy to fill in the blanks when he obviously didn’t catch on to what she was saying. “She hasn’t dated much.”

“Oh.”

“So you know-“

“I haven’t either,” he interrupted her, feeling himself heat at the admission. “Dated much, I mean. I spent most of my life on a boat, and I didn’t swing the way of fellow sailors, so my chances at dating were pretty limited.”

He thought about how awkward he’d always felt around the opposite sex; how it constantly seemed as if there were rules he didn’t know about that everyone else had already learned. It had always been easier to avoid the situation altogether than to stumble along, trying to pretend like he knew what he was doing. “Jester’s the first time in a while I wanted to risk looking like an idiot for someone.”

“Fuck,” Beau laughed, finishing off the coffee. “You guys are perfect for each other.”

Fjord smiled, enjoying the idea even though he knew it wasn’t true. He’d learned a few years back some people fit together, they weren’t made for each other, and there was a world of difference between those two thoughts. “What about you? You got someone you’re willing to look like an idiot for?”

She snorted and he was amused, felt a friendship slide into place at the sound. “Absolutely not. I’m not the relationship type. I like women, don’t get me wrong, I _love_ women - but I’ve tried over and over to make relationships work and it’s like putting on a shoe that’s too tight. Doesn’t work and people end up hurt.”

Fjord rolled over the answer in his head, “What about Yasha?”

Beau sighed, half a century’s worth of longing in the sound. “Yasha’s all about commitment. She was married once before and her wife died, it’s all pretty fucking tragic, and I think if she ever moved on-big if-she’d want something equally invested in forever. I’d hate to date her and figure out it didn’t work for me and hurt her all over again.”

“That’s a pretty shitty situation.”

“Yeah, but if I’m not making things complicated, what am I doing?” she teased, her voice filled with self-deprecation and humor. “I’m going to go running, thanks for the coffee.”

“Sure, anytime.”

“And whenever you’re ready to join me just let me know,” she said as she stood up, handing the mug back to him. “Be happy, Fjord.”

“Be happy, Beau.”

Fjord sat out there for a minute more, watched as the sun finished rising over his backyard, the golden light painting everything it touched.

_Be happy._

It should have been a simple suggestion, but there was a part of him which was terrified by the idea. Being happy meant it could be taken away, and he’d learned the hard what that felt like.

The boat, Vandran, even Sabian had been part of his happy, and then they’d all been brutally taken away without notice. But looking back at everything, he wouldn’t trade the days he’d had in order to erase the heartache he lived with now.

And he knew without thinking, in the place where he held what little faith he had, that he’d risk every measure of heartache to be happy with Jester for another day longer.

If she was ripped away from him, he didn’t want to look back with regret that he hadn’t loved her enough while he had her.

“Be happy,” he repeated to himself.

Getting up, he made the decision to be exactly that.

Jester woke up in a bed, which was weird because she hadn’t fallen asleep in a bed.

She’d fallen asleep on Fjord.

Opening her eyes, she looked around the room. It was simple. The headboard looked like it was made from driftwood, there wasn’t any art on the walls, but there was a windchime made from seashells at the open window. She stared at it, enjoying the soft sounds coming from it.

She pictured Fjord doing the same thing each morning and wondered if he’d used the sound to remind him he wasn’t on the boat when he woke up from nightmares. Jester doubted fishermen had windchimes on boats.

Still in her pajamas from the night before she pulled back the blankets and had a realization. Looking at the other side of the bed she noticed the blankets were still in place.

Jester wondered how long she’d been sleeping there and if the cowboy had thrown his back out sleeping on the couch. She hoped not.

Padding her way through the house she used the bathroom and then followed the smell of something good to the kitchen.

Her hand shot to her heart as she looked at the spread on the kitchen table. Fjord must have been cooking for hours because there were pancakes and waffles and cinnamon rolls covering nearly every inch of the kitchen table along with bacon and sausage.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked to eat.”

She jumped a little at the sound of his voice; for the first time he’d gotten the jump on her.

Spinning around to look at him she knew there were a dozen hearts in her eyes. “You did this?”

“Well, the cinnamon rolls were from a can, but everything else, yeah.”

Jester turned back to the food, feeling absurdly teary eyed at the gesture. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”

“Awful full of yourself, aren’t you,” he teased. “To just assume I did it for you.”

She laughed and moved to inspect the food closer, already trying to figure out how much she could eat. Did he cover those strawberries in sugar? Because they were always better when-Fjord grabbed her as she stepped away from him, his hand closing around her arm.

“Hold up,” he drawled. “I know it’s going to be hard keeping your attention when there’s a fuck-ton of sugar in front of you, but I want to say something first.”

Jester turned around, putting her back to the kitchen table, and got her first real look of Fjord. He seemed a little tired but there was something about him which made her think of a leaf floating down a quiet river. Peaceful.

“What is it? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Jester. Everything’s fine.” He shifted on his feet and after a moment he took both of her hands in his and her heart stuttered before flinging itself of a cliff.

 _Oh shit, oh god, oh shit._ It was _happening_.

“Do we have to do this now?” she asked, and then saw the immediate confusion on his face and stumbled over her words to clarify. “I just woke up. I have morning breath. I don’t know what my hair looks like. This is not how I pictured this happening.”

“You pictured this?” he asked, his smile was soft and affectionate, and she liked the fact he didn’t seem particularly mad or frustrated she’d just hijacked his profession. “For how long exactly?”

“At least three months,” she answered honestly because what was the point of lying?

He laughed and tugged her closer, his arms coming around her waist, and for the first time in her life she wished she was a little taller so she wasn’t looking so far up at him. “We haven’t known each other for the three months.”

She snorted, “As if reality has ever stopped me from daydreaming something. I saw you, I don’t remember what day it was or anything, but I was coming into the house and you must have just picked up wood for the boat because you were unloading two by fours from your truck. Sadly, you were wearing a shirt, but it was still very hot.”

“I don’t remember the first time I saw you.”

Jester shrugged. “There was no reason for you to have seen me, but I saw you, and I was constantly thinking about the handsome man next door and who he was, what he was doing, why he always seemed to be home. I thought you might be a bank robber.”

“I’ve never been that cool in my life.”

She smiled and figured she’d have plenty of time to convince him of how cool he was. “I thought about how we’d meet, how you’d instantly want me, and how you’d express you’re undying love and devotion. There would be sunflowers.”

“Well, I hope pancakes will do.”

“Are you kidding?” she nearly hopped from one foot to another, there was so much excitement in her body. “Pancakes are better than anything I could have thought of.”

“Jester,” he shook his head. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

“Finally,” she whispered, grabbing his shirt and pulling him down to her.

Technically, he didn’t kiss her. Instead, they kissed each other, meeting somewhere in the middle.

Fjord pulled her in close and she loved the feeling of his body pressed against hers, of his hands on her back. She ran her fingers through the short strands of his hair as tongue pressed against her lips, she opened for him as she settled her hands on his shoulders.

“Hold on,” Jester pulled back, just a little breathless. “I’m too short for this.”

Jester looked around the room and moved to the long cabinet, pressing her back against it. “There, now I won’t be balanced on my tip-toes.”

Fjord bent a little to adjust to her height, and she briefly thought about how the difference wouldn’t matter if they were in bed together, and kissed her again.

And again and again.

His hands were greedier than she would have anticipated, and he kissed like- well, she didn’t have a lot of experience for comparison, but he kissed like he craved her, which was all that really mattered.

“Are my roommates going to call the police because they think I’ve been kidnapped?” Jester asked because she needed to catch her breath and also because she couldn’t decide whether to strip down or eat breakfast.

It was a tough call.

“I texted Beau last night, and again when I heard you get up. I told her I’d text in a half hour and she said she would be very disappointed in both of us if it didn’t take us at least 45 minutes.”

Jester laughed and wrapped her arms around his middle, loving how passion should ease so subtly into friendship. “She’s a classy lady, my friend.”

He leaned down, surely to kiss her again, but Jester stopped him halfway with a hand on his chest. “Not that I don’t very much want to continue along that avenue, but if my memory serves me correctly you told me you had something you wanted to say and while you’re mouth has been doing some excellent things, it hasn’t been saying anything.”

His smile was crooked, like he’d been caught at something. “Fair enough. Why don’t we eat while we talk? Less chance of us getting…distracted.”

“Fair deal,” she took his hand and led him to the table, sitting next to him as they each filled up their plates. He took most of the meat, she took most of the sugar, and there was something about that which made her smile because it was right. She couldn’t have explained it with words, but it was like two pictures meant to hang next to each other finally on the same wall.

“I know this is going to come as a surprise, but I like you Jester, a lot.”

She looked up from the waffles, pretending to be shocked. “What?! You do?!”

Fjord laughed and took a bite of his waffle. “I’m still a mess, and that’s not going to stop anytime soon, but I don’t want to miss out on something with you because I’m trying to be good enough.”

Jester’s face softened; she knew when to tease, and she knew when to be serious. “I don’t like that you think you’re not good enough, Fjord.”

He moved his shoulders like he was trying to adjust the weight on them. “Maybe that’s not the right way to phrase it because I don’t think I’m a bad guy. I guess a better way to put it is-well, I guess my living room.”

She wanted to press him, but she kept herself busy with the food while he found the right words. Everything he’d made was surprisingly good, she’d have to figure out Fjord’s favorite food so she could cook for him next time.

It had been a long time since she’d tried to cook anything, but she’d try for him.

“I’d planned on painting it by myself, it never occurred to me to ask for help. Ever since the ship went down that’s how I’ve done everything; on my own. It’s knee jerk at this point, and it’s going to take some effort to remember to reach out and that’s kind of how it is figuring out how to get back to living. My instinct is to go it alone, but it doesn’t work like that. I need you. And I’d like to have Cad and Beau in my life too.”

“I hope you don’t plan on making out with them too,” she couldn’t help but tease.

“I very much doubt Beau would let me survive that,” he replied dryly, his mouth quirking up at the ends. “This is all a very long-winded way of saying I want you in my life, but I’m out of practice having people in my life. So, if you’re up for it, I’d really like to take you out on a proper date.”

Jester picked up a strawberry and nibbled on it to give herself time to think. “You know about my mama, and I think you understand more about me than most people I know. You get me. And I like to think I get you too.”

He nodded and she felt encouraged to keep going. “I know you’re smarter than you think, and stronger than you realize. I know you’re super hot, and have a really great smile.”

Fjord pressed his lips together as if to keep himself from smiling, but he couldn’t do anything about the blush covering his cheeks, which thrilled her. She’d like to spend the rest of her life making Fjord blush. “And I don’t go care about the mess in your head, or the baggage you think you have. We all have baggage, it’s just looks different when it’s ours.”

She scooted her chair closer to his, not caring about the scraping noise it made on the wood floor. “And that’s all a very long-winded way of saying yes, I’d like to go on a date with you.”

“Tonight?”

Jester nodded and took a bite of a strawberry so she wouldn’t kiss him again. “Tonight.”

“I don’t understand why you’re not at your house bugging Jester,” Fjord said to Beau as he finished buttoning up his shirt. She was sitting cross legged on his bed, wearing a baggy sweatshirt and cuffed workout pants with flipflops.

It was an interesting look.

“Jester’s way more confident about this stuff than you, so I figured you’d need me more.”

“Thanks?”

He sat down next to her so he could put on his shoes while she fiddled with her hair. “Cad’s over there,” she added as she tugged out the hair tie and her hair fell down to her shoulders. He was surprised at how long it was and realized it was the first time he’d ever seen it down. “He’s a calmer presence than me and when Jester gets wound up he’s better at soothing.”

Fjord laughed. “You’re not soothing? Color me shocked.”

She flipped him off. “Where are you going?”

“I have plans,” he evaded. “Don’t worry about it.”

“But how do you know it’s a good idea if I don’t tell you it’s a good idea,” she pressed. “That’s a nice flannel, can I have it?”

Fjord followed her gaze and saw the blue plaid shirt on his chair. “No.”

“Rude.” She rested her chin on her hand, her elbow on her knee. “You going to do it?”

The heat raced up the back of his neck, but he was too shocked to truly be embarrassed. “For fuck’s sake, Beau.”

“I’m just saying, you have to prepare for that kind of thing, you know. Do you have condoms?”

He shook his head and grabbed her arm, pulling her off the bed so she was standing next to it. “Okay, time for you to go.”

“I was just trying to be helpful,” and Fjord completely believed she was _trying_ to be helpful. The problem was she was the exact opposite, so he dragged her across the front yard to her door and opened it.

Jester was standing in the living room, presumably talking to Cad who was in front of her, and they both turned as he and Beau walked in.

“Fjord?” Jester asked, obviously confused at his sudden presence in her house. “Are you picking me up for our date?”

“Nope, I’m just returning your friend. Please keep her here.”

“Fuck you, Fjord!” Beau yelled through the door as he shut it behind him, but she didn’t sound particularly angry so he figured she was good.

Back in his own house he grabbed his phone, his wallet, resisted the urge to check himself in the mirror, and then picked up his keys. On the way out he grabbed what he’d need for the date and got into his truck.

It may be dumb to drive next door, but he was a gentleman and it seemed ridiculous to walk over to her house just to walk her back to his to get into the car.

Whatever, good guys picked up the girl and knocked on her door which is what he did when he was standing in front of her house for the second time in five minutes.

Caduceus opened the door with a smile. “We’ve given Beau a protein shake, so she should be good for a while. Jester! You have a gentleman caller!”

Fjord muttered a curse under his breath but his mild aggravation at his new group of friends was offset by his amusement of them.

Jester popped out from the back of the house and he got his first good look at her; she wore high heels and a dark pink dress with a smile that stretched for miles.

She was easily the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she greeted back, grabbing her purse from the chair. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” he answered, but didn’t move as she walked towards him. Fjord waited until she was directly in front of him before telling her, “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” and he thought he saw the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks. “If we don’t go now Caduceus or Beau will be weird.”

“Don’t worry, they’ve both already covered that.” He held out his hand to her and she accepted it, threading her fingers through his. “Bye guys!”

“Don’t wait up,” Jester hollered over her shoulder as they walked out the front door. “So, where are we going?”

“Surprise.”

“I love surprises!” she reacted, pure glee in her voice as he helped her into his truck. “As long as the surprise isn’t murder.”

Fjord laughed as he put the vehicle into drive. “You hear from your ma today?”

“Yeah, she’s doing good right now. I told her I was going on a date.”

“Yeah? How’d that go.”

“Pretty good. I thought she’d freak out, because she just asked for a picture of you and said you’re very handsome and have kind eyes.”

“That was nice of her.” He put his hand out between them and Jester took it, holding it on her lap. “I’d like to meet her.”

“She’d like to meet you too. I’ll figure out a good time.”

They kept on talking for the short drive to the beach and he watched Jester’s face light up as she realized where they were heading. “The beach?”

“Supposed to be a nice night,” he answered, hoping this was a good idea. He backed up into the parking spot so the bed of his truck was facing out towards the sunset and the horizon. “Come on.”

He met Jester at the back of the truck and when she would have headed towards the sand, he stopped her by grabbing her hand. “Nope, we have to eat first.”

“Eat?”

“You think I’m taking you on a date and not feeding you?” he asked, pulling down the tailgate where he’d previously put a handful of blankets and pillows he’d found around his house. “I thought about eating on the beach but the idea of chewing sand didn’t appeal to me.”

“Well, for fuck’s sake Fjord, how am I supposed to top this?”

Fjord laughed as he put his hands on her hips to lift her onto the blankets where the picnic basket sat not far away. “Why do you have to top this?”

She adjusted herself on the blankets, sitting cross-legged with her dress billowing out around her. “For our second date.”

“We’re taking turns?” he asked, pulling out two bottles from the basket. One beer, the other a container of Kool-Aid.

“It’s only fair. What else do you have in there?”

“What we got here is a real Southern picnic,” and he pulled out potato salad, fried chicken, and a pie. “You have to eat the real food before you get dessert.”

Jester laughed. “You already know me so well.”

The date was perfect.

She was walking down the beach with her hand in Fjord’s, the tide lapping at their feet and the midnight blue sky sparkling with diamonds above them.

Jester wouldn’t call what she was feeling love, but she knew in fifty years she’d be telling her grandkids that this was it, this was the moment she knew Fjord was the one.

Next to her, Fjord knelt down to pick up a seashell and he put it in his pocket so automatically it made her wonder how often he did that. Maybe he had a box tucked away in his closet full of seashells he’d found on a dozen different beaches.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been out here,” he said as he stood up.

It sounded like a confession, so Jester pressed her shoulder against his arm so he knew she was there. “Too hard?”

“Yeah. I haven’t gone out since the accident.”

Jester was surprised. He’d never said anything about going out on the water, but she just figured he was constantly sailing or whatever. “But you’re building a boat.”

He nodded and looked out at the water. “It’s a great way of procrastinating.”

She remembered asking him to take her sailing in the lighting aisle of a hardware store and he’d mentioned she’d be gone by the time he was ready to go out. There was a part of her which wondered if he hadn’t just been talking about the boat being finished.

“You’ll get there.”

He seemed surprised by her confidence. “You think so?”

“I told you, Fjord. You’re stronger than you think. And if you want, Beau, Cad, and I can come with you. If you think it’ll help,” she added with a shrug.

“It might.”

“Whenever you’re ready,” she told him as they started to head back to the car. It was getting cold and neither of them had brought jackets. And because they were good at trading one secret for another, she continued. “I was thinking about looking for my dad.”

He didn’t look surprised and she liked that. “Are you?”

“Ever since you asked Nott about finding people,” she explained with a shrug, trying not to make it seem like a big deal. “I don’t know how much it’ll cost, or where to start, but I want answers.”

“You don’t think Marion will tell you?”

“I think if she was going to, she would have.” It was hard not to be angry at her mother for keeping this from her, but she understood wanting to protect the people she cared about. But she was an adult now, and this was what she wanted. “I’ll have to look through her stuff next time I’m home. I bet she’s got super sexy love letters from him or something.”

Fjord laughed. “You’re just going to snoop through her stuff?”

“Yeah!” and she didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it. “If she’s not going to tell me, I’m going to figure it out for myself. Are you going to take me home tonight?”

She giggled as he stumbled in the sand. “To my house you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Uh. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.”

“I have.”

“You have?”

“Oh, yeah.”

How could she not have thought about it? She was a red-blooded, straight female. Of course she’d looked at Fjord across the fence and wondered what it would be like to have his weight on her. And once she’d met him? All she could think about was what his voice would sound like while they had sex, what those calloused hands would feel like on her skin.

It was wildly inappropriate how much she’d thought about him naked, and one day she’d tell him about every fantasy she’d ever had.

“But it’s cool if you don’t want to tonight,” she assured him. “I just wanted to let you know whenever you’re interested, I’m interested.”

“I uh, don’t have much in the way of experience in those matters.”

“You mean fucking? Yeah, me neither, but I think we could figure it out together. We’re already pretty good at kissing.”

Fjord nodded as he pulled her close as if he wanted to prove her point; he kissed her with the sound of the ocean in the background, the salty breeze moving around them.

It was soft and warm and lit something inside of Jester which spread through every limb so she could feel it in her toes and fingertips. Maybe most people would have described it as a fire, but to her it was more like sliding into a hot bath after spending hours outside in the cold.

When she pulled back she looked up at Fjord, and saw a dozen thoughts in his eyes. “You’re thinking awful loud over there.”

As he looked at her it was as if she could feel everything he felt, and it nearly overwhelmed her with its intensity.

He was quiet for so long she thought he wasn’t going to answer but after a few moments he let out a sigh as if it was the first deep breath he’d taken in years. “I was just thinking, it feels really good to be home.”

Jester thought about his arms around her, her chest pressed against his as the smell of the ocean drifted around them. The world felt so big, and at the same time impossibly small with the ocean stretched out for days in front of them. She smiled up at him, because when she told this story in fifty years it wasn’t just going to be the day she knew Fjord was it for her…

It was the day she knew she’d never anyone the way she loved him.

“I know what you mean," and she kissed him again.


End file.
